Seroepidemiology of toxoplasmosis in rural and urban communities from Los Rios Region, Chile

Figures & data

Table 1 Sociodemographic characteristics and living conditions of study participants by community type, Los Rios Region, Chile, 2010–2012

Characteristics	Urban slum (n=268)	Rural village (n=303)	Farm (n=363)	Total (n=934)	p
Sex					0.054
Male	98 (36.6%)	138 (45.5%)	163 (44.9%)	399 (42.7%)
Female	170 (63.4%)	165 (54.5%)	200 (55.1%)	535 (57.3%)
Age					<0.001
Mean (SD)	34.0 (15.5)	44.3 (18.8)	45.1 (18.7)	41.7 (18.5)
Median (range)	30.5 (13–94)	44 (13–86)	45 (13–94)	40 (13–94)
Education^a					<0.001
Elementary school	127 (49.2%)	173 (57.7%)	199 (55.7%)	499 (54.5%)
High school	128 (49.6%)	108 (36.0%)	120 (33.6%)	356 (38.9%)
College	3 (1.2%)	19 (6.3%)	38 (10.7%)	60 (6.6%)
Monthly income (scaled)^b					<0.001
Mean (SD)	1.5 (0.7)	2.1 (1.1)	2.4 (1.6)	2.0 (1.3)
Median (range)	1.4 (0.3–4.0)	1.7 (0.6–6.0)	2.0 (0.5–8.0)	1.7 (0.3–8.0)
Occupation^a,c					<0.001
Office environment	29 (11.1%)	43 (14.3%)	22 (6.2%)	94 (10.3%)
Domestic environment	184 (70.2%)	187 (62.1%)	173 (49.1%)	544 (59.5%)
Outdoor environment	49 (18.7%)	71 (23.6%)	157 (44.6%)	277 (30.2%)
Working in garden	30 (11.2%)	92 (30.4%)	159 (44.3%)	281 (30.2%)	<0.001
Cleaning barns	83 (31.0%)	112 (37.0%)	145 (40.4%)	340 (36.6%)	0.052
Cleaning drains^d	20 (7.5%)	6 (2.0%)	20 (5.6%)	46 (4.9%)	0.008
Water from open source	3 (1.1%)	18 (5.9%)	62 (17.1%)	83 (8.9%)	<0.001
Storing household water	84 (31.3%)	45 (14.9%)	87 (24.0%)	216 (23.1%)	<0.001
Always boiling water	31 (11.6%)	8 (2.6%)	41 (11.3%)	80 (8.6%)	<0.001
Cats in household	139 (51.9%)	171 (56.4%)	219 (60.8%)	529 (56.8%)	0.088
Vegetables from household or community^e	243 (90.7%)	246 (81.2%)	324 (89.3%)	813 (87.0%)	<0.001
Poultry from household or community^e	30 (11.2%)	109 (36.0%)	208 (57.1%)	347 (37.2%)	<0.001
Pork from household or community^e	32 (11.9%)	103 (34.0%)	191 (52.6%)	326 (34.9%)	<0.001
Sheep from household or community^e	136 (50.7%)	221 (72.9%)	311 (85.7%)	668 (71.5%)	<0.001
Flow accumulation index					0.008
Mean (SD)	10.0 (10.0)	3.4 (9.9)	9.1 (37.7)	7.5 (26.6)
Median (range)	1.0 (0, 76)	0 (0, 72)	0 (0, 310)	0 (0, 310)
Largest landscape cover					<0.001
Tree/shrub	75 (28.0%)	3 (1.0%)	4 (1.1%)	82 (8.8%)
Field/low vegetation	115 (42.9%)	300 (99.0%)	359 (98.9%)	774 (82.9%)
Wetland	78 (29.1%)	–	–	78 (8.4%)

^aMissing data on 19 participants.

^bScaled as monthly income in Chilean pesos/100,000. Value of 1 = US$160.

^cOccupation categories were defined as office environment (job outside the house in an office, indoor type of environment), domestic environment (job in the house, students, retirees), or outdoor environment (job in agriculture, forestry, construction, other outdoor type of job).

^dMissing data on four participants.

^eSupermarket, not locally obtained sources as the reference.

Fig. 1 Age-specific seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis in 934 individuals (men and women) from urban slums, rural villages, and farms, Los Rios Region, Chile.

Table 2 Risk factors for Toxoplasma gondii seropositivity in people 13 years and older from Los Rios Region, Chile, obtained from multivariable regression modeling

Variables in final models	Coefficient	S.E.	P	OR (95% C.I.)
Farm communities
Sex: Male	−1.299	0.456	0.004	–
Age (years)	0.034	0.007	<0.001	1.03 (1.02, 1.05)
Scaled monthly income	−0.437	0.122	<0.001	–
Cleaning barns	0.549	0.261	0.035	1.73 (1.04, 2.89)
Always boils drinking water	−1.109	0.410	0.007	0.33 (0.15, 0.74)
Cats in the household	0.466	0.281	0.098	1.59 (0.92, 2.76)
Sloped terrain, little vegetation 250 m radius (m^2)	0.202	0.126	0.110	–
Scaled monthly income* Sex	0.397	0.159	0.013
Scaled monthly income – Sex: Male				0.96 (0.79, 1.26)
Scaled monthly income – Sex: Female				0.65 (0.51, 0.82)
Rural villages
Sex: Male	−3.653	0.269	0.405	–
Age (years)	0.027	0.007	<0.001	1.03 (1.01, 1.04)
Scaled monthly income	−0.094	0.127	0.458	–
Cleaning barns	0.560	0.286	0.050	1.75 (1.00, 3.07)
Vegetables from household or community	0.783	0.368	0.034	2.19 (1.06, 4.50)
Eating lamb/sheep	2.074	0.865	0.017	7.96 (1.46, 43.34)
Flow accumulation index	0.046	0.024	0.056	1.05 (1.00, 1.10)
Urban slum communities
Sex: Male	−1.417	0.846	0.094	–
Age (years)	0.034	0.010	0.001	1.03 (1.01, 1.05)
Scaled monthly income^a	0.642	0.212	0.002	1.84 (1.22, 2.79)
Occupation:^b   Domestic environment	0.007	0.564	0.991	–
Outdoor environment	−1.305	1.264	0.302	–
Sloped terrain, no vegetation 250 m radius (m^2)	−0.056	0.035	0.035	0.93 (0.87, 0.99)
Sex * Occupation: Domestic environment^b	1.615	0.939	0.085	–
Sex * Occupation: Outdoor environment^b	2.922	1.459	0.045	–
Occupation: Domestic environment – Sex: Male				5.63 (1.03, 19.76)
Occupation: Domestic environment – Sex: Female				1.12 (0.37, 3.38)
Occupation: Outdoor environment – Sex: Male				4.95 (1.23, 22.39)
Occupation: Outdoor environment – Sex: Female				0.27 (0.02, 3.19)

A separate final model was produced for each community type.

^aIncome in Chilean pesos scaled as income/100,000.

^bOffice or indoor type of occupation as the reference category.